Sydney coach John Longmire expressed pride in his young players’ ability to learn and keep fighting against better-credentialled opponents as their AFL season draws to a close.

The injury-ravaged Swans fielded the youngest team of round 17 in their clash with Brisbane on Sunday night and were beaten by 32 points.

But they got within two points of the premiership contenders at the eight-minute mark of the final term before conceding a late flurry of goals.

“There’s a lot that we did right and unfortunately they were able to kick some easy goals,” Longmire said.

“We took the game on in that last quarter.

“We wanted to win it, not save it and not sort of grind our way back in.

“We had a real crack and sometimes as a young team you get it right, sometimes you get it wrong.”

The Swans were far from disgraced, winning clearances (+3) and contested possession (+8), and having just four fewer inside-50s than Brisbane.

Will Hayward and Nick Blakey were among the younger players who impressed as experienced trio Josh Kennedy, Luke Parker and Jake Lloyd did a lot of the heavy lifting.

Longmire was pleased with former North Melbourne midfielder Ryan Clarke’s tagging job on Lachie Neale, restricting the Brownlow Medal favourite to a season-low 15 disposals.

Sydney blooded a seventh debutant of the year, ruckman Joel Amartey, as one of five players with fewer than 10 games’ experience.

“We’ve got some things we’re doing with our list and we’ve only got the one player over 30,” Longmire said.

“We’re working really hard to get another group together to be able to have a crack (at a premiership).

“It’s not always going to work and there’s going to be periods in the game where it’s going to fluctuate.

“It’s not something we need to accept and we’ll drive the group really hard not to accept it, but that’s what’s happening a bit at the moment and we’ll try to get that right.”

The Swans meet flag contenders Geelong in their final match of the season at Metricon Stadium on Sunday.